Recent Comments by GoDizzGo

Manning re-signs with Colts

I think this big deal foreshadows a move by the team to a place where they can get more revenues. The RCA Dome doesn't sell out and I don't believe has many luxury boxes compared to more recently built facilities.

Female kicker Katie Hnida says she was harassed and raped while at Colorado.

Sickening. But I got to point out that the rape that occurred had nothing to do with the football program. It was done by a teammate, but could anyone else that she knew. Hnida not reporting it might have had something to do with football program or at least the environment that was tolerated.

US out of Olympics.

This quote from the US goalkeeper: "Since Mexico won convincingly, every fan walked out cheering," U.S. goalkeeper D.J. Countess said. "I've been hit with bags of urine, limes and batteries. There even was a dead chicken thrown on the field next to me in El Salvador, but since Mexico got the result they wanted, there wasn't much of that. I'm sure if we would have won the game, there would have been a lot of stuff thrown at us and a lot of chants." In the teams' meeting here last May, the crowd pelted the U.S. players with beer bottles, batteries and racial epithets, causing the U.S. Soccer Federation to send an official letter of complaint to the Mexican federation. from McPaper

US out of Olympics.

There's federation and FIFA rules regarding playable pitches. If the field is frozen solid, it's not playable. (Artificial turf still isn't sanctioned to the best of my knowledge) I haven't heard of any stadiums in Canada that have some kind of design that warms the field like they do in Lambeau Field or a number of other stadiums in the US.

No there's nuthin' dirty goin' on.

The former lawmaker's opinion was out of place, especially since it was done before the investigation began. It's prejudicial in the sense that it's dismissing the potential crimes that were committed against the women, as having the women be at fault for the circumstances that they got themselves involved in. If this lawmaker were to find herself stranded with the bad part of Pueblo because her car broke down because of her oversight and she got jacked, do you think she would hold herself open to blame because of the circumstances she put herself into? Do you think she would not let the perpetrators of the crime against her to go unpunished? Like I said, she's an idiot for voicing these "Dr.Laura" opinions before she's seen any of the evidence.

US out of Olympics.

The USA beat Mexico 3-1 in a U-23 friendly last summer in the stadium. The big difference? The US was missing 6 different players, 3 to injury (Buddle, the starting striker, Martino, starting central midfielder, and Whitbread, the starting defender) and 3 because their European teams wouldn't release them (Casey, a sometimes starting striker, Oguchi and Yi, both starting defenders). All of them played last year in the win. Between that and Buricaga out suspended, the US were fielding all 2nd choice fullbacks, missing a key distributor, and a couple more skilled strikers. (Donovan could've potentially been moved to midfield at times where he could involve himself more) American sports fans who are casual followers don't realize that playing in Mexico, be it in Guadelajara or Mexico City, are tougher places to play the home team than anywhere in North America, and easily more than anywhere in Europe. (yes, even Turkey) Of course there's large fervent crowds there. (60,000 yesterday, but 100,000 in the usual Mexico City venue of Azteca Stadium) There's the very high altitude and severe air pollution of Mexico City. But many don't know that the heaps of abuse and refuse that befall our players. I'm not talking just about the occasional Bronx battery throw or Oakland cell phone lob, there's SPIT, SHIT , and BAGS OF URINE thrown at the US players and staff. Perfectly normal and perfectly healthy for CONCACAF. The Mexican footballing authorities have never been called in to reign this is in. (The USA only counters this by holding our games against them in cold weather sites) Before this, the US has beaten Mexico 5 of the last 7 times including the 2002 World Cup final knockout stages. The resulting story coming out of this is that Mexican coach Lavolpe's youngsters are starting to come around to his new program that involves more athletic and speedier players, which tells you that some of these guys will be called in for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. If they would've lost this game Lavolpe would've lost his job.

No there's nuthin' dirty goin' on.

No there's nuthin' dirty goin' on.

Is this story being mostly ignored by the major media outlets? Sure it's not in a major media market. But it's got sex, and it is a sweeps month. I haven't watched much ESPN, or listened to sports radio, but I haven't heard much about it.

Adu signs with MLS

No offence taken. After all, you're from England. The place where football was born. Every country has its own styles of football that it fosters, it's somewhat like language, culture and commerce. Everywhere does it a bit differently, and unfortunately for you and other fans of the England national team, there are teams that do it better. That could include the USA if you value the opinion of Sir Alex. Was that too low? Oh, I apologize, too many deep-fried Twinkies I suppose.

Adu signs with MLS

He was left off the U-20 team for a couple reasons. The U-20 World Cup tourney, held in Dubai, was postponed because of the war. There was a set team ready to play, and to bring in a player who may or may not be able to contribute would've been unfair to the players that have played together all throughout the qualifiers. It's also uncertain whether or not he'd be able to work as a team member. (Last I heard that, one terrific player does not make a good soccer team) He did get called into a training camp last month in LA, and didn't standout (in limited minutes) in a loss against Japan's U-20 team in a friendly game. Also to debunk the mythology of Freddy scoring against the MLS Cup finalist Chicago Fire in a scrimmage against the U-17 team: The game was played in the pre-season, the players playing the Fire were end-of-benchers and players who were eventually cut. I want Adu to succeed, but more importantly I want soccer to flourish here in the US, and heaping unreasonable LeBron James-type hype on him doesn't help with the reality that he likely won't get a lot of playing time with his new team. A DC United team, mind you, that doesn't have a great track record developing young players compared to other teams in MLS. Too much hype and there is bound to be disappointment that some ignorant and naive fans would crow and potentially create a backlash that would resonate with the well-placed soccer-haters.

Alcohol-free college sports TV?

Why doesn't stadium security turn away drunken attendees (especially their own students) to their events? A good portion also smuggle in hard alcohol as well, or leave the stadium at halftime to keep their buzz going. (Okay, I've been guilty of this) I know for a fact that at certain Big-10 schools the student section would be effectively halved. Now that would send a message about binge drinking.

American (MLS) soccer is getting a facelift.

Rochester deserve it on merits. They consistent get fantastic support that rivals, or even betters some MLS teams. (yoohoo San Jose) However, Rochester will never, ever, get to house the MLS Cup final. It's just a week and a half away. What the average temperature in Rochester right now? The frozen tundra of Rochester just doesn't have the same ring to it. Chivas USA could start up by 2004 as well, and Club America's (another Mexican League giant) corporate owner is in talks to buy the San Jose Earthquakes and rename and remake that team by 2004 as well. However, Chivas plans to field only Mexican or Mexican-American players for their squad and they're still playing a lot of games on where they'll play their matches. Chivas is well-known for their long-standing policy to sign only Mexican players.

Sexist,moi?

I don't believe that Spurrier is the GM. The Redskins don't have a GM. Li'l Danny split up the job. Vinny Cerato is the Director of Player Personnel. (Brought back after the 2001-2002 season, but he stuck around town after he was "let go" after the hiring of Schottenheimer, meaning he was probably kept on as one of those consultants that Li'l Danny likes so much because he was still living in the DC metro area) Joe Mendes is the VP of football operations. (I believe he resigned before Schottenheimer's only season started, and was the team's capologist) The wacko thing that Li'l Danny did was hire Spurrier at such insanely high wages, even though he was not experienced at the NFL. But of course, he's a genius offensive coordinator that he didn't have to hire one. I wonder if Parcells is getting paid more than Spurrier? I wonder if Li'l Danny would be crazy enough to hire Deion Sanders after this season. After all, Deion did stiff him for at least $4 million, IIRC, when he hired Schottenheimer. Danny has an ego that is out of control, and thinks he can run a football team, let alone a franchise. You'd think that if he was so brilliant about pro football, he would've noticed how Jerry Jones' top-down management style worked so badly after he let go of Jimmah.

For all the fan violence that occurs in soccer matches that gets occured in the US sports media, it seems to me that fan violence at many American sporting venues are underreported, or not reported at all. This may have to do with the fact that the fan violence happens outside the stadium. At college universities, this is understandable because it's not where the alcohol is flowing and they do in off-campus bars or in the parking lot. Also contributing to the underreporting is that colleges have been known to supress the crime statistics so that parents aren't scared away from sending their kids there.

It's a blitz!

I thought that too at first, until I realized that he's full of lame, self-serving logic, which is amusing the first time you see it, but it is his only gag. Um, what columnist doesn't employ self-serving logic time after time? This is just an inflated way of saying you don't like his columns. I've heard it said that if you have a microphone put in front of you for your opinions, if you talk long enough you're going to eventually get into trouble. This may be the first notable time that a blog had the same result.

"Undetectable" designer steroid at heart of US athletic doping scandal.

1) Why don't people wise up. When Barry Bond's hat size grows larger along with someone's muscle mass, it's not because of some over-the-counter TwinLab crapola and some special workout routine. Do we always need conclusive proof that some of these people are juiced up on illegal or at the very least unethical stuff. 2) On the overnight ESPN Sportscenter, they showed a picture of the Romo's teammate that he beat up so badly that he couldn't play this year, and it was SICK. Far worse than Vito Antuofermo or Randall "Tex" Cobb. Even Romo and his wife were indicted of prescription drug fraud, (Romo and his wife walked as judged by a biased jury) yet no one can say outright that there's something not right with him. I mean, now Romo is peddling exercise machines. Unfortunately, no mention of human growth hormones are included. 3) Whatever happened to those evil genius East German sports performance scientists that became free agents after the fall of the Berlin wall? They were rumored to be helping along the Chinese women long distance runners, who as a pack throttled world records at that time. After that jig was up by the late 90s, I hadn't heard their whereabouts.

USA! USA! USA! Not quite, but oh so close.

Um, was this posted to make Americans more aware that we really suck at rugby on the world's stage? Or that we all of the son's of recent immigrants and the best whitebread surburban athletes (who weren't big or talented enough to play football, baseball, basketball, hockey, or lacrosse) that make-up the MLS and the US nat'l team still can't stack up against the rest of the world. (except for Mexico, we kick their butt all the time now...well, most of the time, especially when we hold the match at kickoff temps 45F or less and/or places that have really lousy Mexican food...you make the connection Dusty Baker) But hey, the high-profile US women soccer team is the best...er, well, 3rd place... in the World Cup tournament with 5 decent teams. Damn, how are we in cricket? How about the Women's Rugby World Cup?

I heard on the ESPN radio today, that something happened in (IIRC) game 4 of the BoSox-Yanks series in which Trot Nixon leaned well into the right-field porch to rob Derek Jeter of a homer. Apparently the fans there had no problem of holding each other back not to interfere with the fielding of the ball. While BoSox fans disturb me with their drunken loutishness, this demonstrates that that they are smarter and truer fans, while it there's probably a lot of fair-weather fans of the oft-underachieving Cubbies who happened to be in attendance that night. If that isn't enough evidence for you, during this past summer it was revealed in several sources that the practice of Cubs outfield bleacher fans (the hard core fans who are portrayed in the famous play, and movie "Bleacher Bums") who would take proud delight throwing back opponent's home run baseballs, would switch baseballs, and throw back a different non-game ball that they had brought with them in anticipation of the such a moment. I hadn't heard nor read accounts of the schlub getting a ball already from Alou, and if it is true, that would really burn me if I were a true Cub fan.

Chelsea lose.

Apparently, Chelsea will be starting an academy. Although starting one, and having a successful one are two different things. With the money problems that West Ham are having, one could see that they'd have potential to pip away some of their potential attendees and sources.

Could they just regulate little Danny Snyder's overblown ego as being contemptuous and offensive? off topic: Someone tell me how the hell does Washington stay under the cap? So many different signing over the past 3 or 4 years. I could swear that Tagliabue (a DC native, no pun intended) is cutting them some slack with the cap.

1)I've heard it said that Rush commentary and ESPN's designs for him as a commentator, as race baiting. I agree and it's pretty easy to see why: in his first Sunday piece on Countdown, when everyone was geeked up to hear the upcoming games, Rush railed against the NFL's diversity policy regarding head coaches. O-tay. It's a day-old-bread issue that had been well-covered on sports talk radio during the off-season, and he did it obviously to score points for his side of the affimative action argument not only on this clunky NFL policy, but on the policy in general. It was kind of odd to have Rush open with this on the first Sunday of the season, and it certainly wouldn't endear him ESPN's black audience, especially when they didn't turn ESPN on to see Face the Nation. But obvously this was okay with the producers of Countdown. Next he calls a Pro Bowl QB overrated, basically because the liberal media has hyped him, and that the Eagles have a good defense. As i've written in a post above, there is something to his argument that McNabb is overrated, but he puts out a strange argument by inserting his global view that there's a liberal sports media shepherding his Pro Bowl status chiefly because he is black. It's kind of like pairing steak dinner with a side of Captain Crunch. They're both something to chew on, but they just don't go together. The unusual part of his argument is seen as veiled racism because for a long time many coaches, (from Pop Warner to pro) management, and boosters have thought that blacks didn't have "certain qualities" that made them a good QB. Now Rush may be saying that McNabb isn't a great QB, but just a good one, but nevertheless it echoes those tacit opinions that held many black Americans from being the field general. Thus the overwhelming reaction. To address responses to my previous post about certain white players being overrated: 2) Urlacher is overrated. He's not quite a Pro Bowler IMO. His pass coverage lacks, and he's been helped a lot by having the talented big load Ted Washington in front of him taking up blockers on the line. Now he doesn't have him, and he's not covering the pass, and playing the run as well. 3) Allstott is overrated. Credit Gruden that he worked on him to stop his fumbling last year, especially in crucial situations. Before that he was a fumbler with poor handling tendencies and his Q rating was helped by Boomer liking him coming out of the draft, doing those "boom boom" sound effects whenever he called one of his highlights. Worst part: He's been voted as a Pro Bowl fullback, when he doesn't even play that blocking fullback position, and he wouldn't make it as a tailback.

McNabb is overrated. The Eagles have done as well in the regular season with their second and third stringers. This could also be a result of good coaching by Andy Reid. Why is he overrated? The PC media, Rush? You can't be serious. If anything it's because the NFL historically has held up the QBs of winning teams, maybe more than they deserved. Nevertheless, McNabb does put highlight reel plays up, which plays into that heroism that we've always associated with NFL QBs of the past. In today's salary cap NFL where mediocre QBs are getting Super Bowl rings in recent years(Dilfer, Brady, Brad Johnson, Warner?) we yearn to look for that hero playmaking QB, even though it's becoming an anachronism, especially when coaches now call all the plays. (except for Manning) It doesn't matter what skin color they are, it just matters to most fans if they're reasonably successful and make flashy plays. (prime example would be Jake Plummer during his lone playoff year with Arziona who would always get his team in the hole with bad interceptions and then lead his team to comeback) Did Irvin or Jackson have a retort? I would've countered to Rush with the example of the show pony that is Jason Sehorn, who used to play the cornerback position that is pretty much all black players in the NFL. He was way overrated and got a lot of notice because he was an anomaly. So much so that he got into the Pro Bowl, even though he wasn't anywhere near deserving. He's not the only overrated white players in the NFL: Allstott and Urlacher are overpraised because they are "throw-back" players.

Let's talk about the Women's World Cup.

According to Soccer America, they're picking Germany to win. The USA has a terrible scheduling problem going into the semis where they have to travel cross-country the day before their almost certain matchup with Germany in Portland. Meanwhile, Germany only has to travel to Civic Stadium because the quaters for them are in Portland. The USA will not be fresh, and Germany actually has a good defense. (Sweden was supposed to have a good, veteran defense as well, and they stunk in the first half) Meinert, who I believe was the 2003 WUSA MVP, is a strong leader. North Korea, who has beaten China a couple times recently, will be a tough foe. Btw, the USA women were shutout 3-0 by the UVA reserves. (!)

UEFA blast big spending Abramovich.

There's been growing talk of salary caps in the FA. While it's been directed towards the Nationwide leagues, it's quite possible that some of the other EPL clubs that aren't swimming in money (and there's not too many of them) would gang up and use this as a blunt instrument against Chelsea's profligate spending.

First, I think there were a number of niggling injuries that they sustained: Ichiro got off to a slow start, then on fire until the All-Star break, and then hit .260 since. He took some balls off his ankle a few times, plus he got knocked silly by Cameron when there was a lack of communication in (IIRC) late July. Olerud had a hamstring injury after the All-Star break. Anyone who knows anything about such injuries knows that they never quite go away, and need a long time to get back to normal. Cameron also had an injury in early August (IIRC) which I think was his back. His batting, which had been quite good for a defensive specialist, fell off after the injury. He didn't have as many holes in his swing this year. Meche hit the wall. Why not? Since he hadn't pitched a full season in a long, long time. Rhodes. Fell off his form big time after his ankle injury in mid-August. Edgar, Guillen, Sasaki. No need to waste space about all of their injuries. Players without a excuse for the drop off: Boone. I'd like to see a breakdown of his batting average with runners in scoring position since the All-Star break. Their fall was pretty much because of their inability to hit with runners in scoring position, and he was chiefly to blame. Freddy Garcia. Form all over the place this year, but in his defense was arguably their most dependable pitcher down the stretch. Pinero hit the wall in August away to Cleveland, and never really reclaimed his form except when he got extra rest. There always had been talk that he wasn't strong enough for him to last the entire season as a starter. They have pretty much been proven right. Wilson/Davis - Wilson didn't get as many clutch hits this year compared to years past. Davis' hitting was pretty much blah. Winn can only be blamed for starting off slowly, but is going to end this season with practically the same numbers as he put up last year. (save for HRs taken away by Safeco) Cirillo just hasn't worked out. Very solid defensive player. He wasn't at fault for the slide in the 2nd half as he rarely played. I'm hopeful they give him another year to turn it around because he won't be worth much on the trade market. Looking back, I would say that their pitching overachieved for the first half of the year (except Freddy) and then the bullpen eventually wore down in the 2nd half of the year. Management cannot go without mention. They did very little, but with respectable results, especially with Sanchez, (jettisoning Nelson for Benitez was a wash in my mind) They have plenty of talent in the minors (former M's farmhand Posednik is going to finish in the top 2 in the NL rookie of the year vote, and Seattle got nothing for him) and are being very stingy letting it go in trades, hoping that some of that low-cost talent will blossom. Thus upper managment, not necessarily Gillick since he's got lame duck status, (I'm sure he couldn't pull the trigger on a trade without Armstrong's OK) is probably to blame for the drop off. They compromised this year's success for potential future success. (and certain lower payroll) I belive that they'll get rid of Cirillo. Free agents Garcia, Benitez, Sanchez, Guillen, will not be signed. Possibly Rhodes could go if they can get a 2-for-1 on lefty relievers.

If you've ever watched a rugby match on TV, they have a product logo placed on the field, like the "first and ten" line that is currently on football. It's not the worst thing that I've ever seen, and if that can speed up the game, bully for us. College football has got to be the most painfully boring to watch when it is televised. It just goes to show what you can get people watch if they're really drunk.

Nike has had a strong influence in the Oregon Athletic department has been nascent, especially since that little brou-ha-ha over prison labor was smoothed over. Phil Knight is a Oregon grad, and has given a bunch of money to Oregon, (is he receiving a tax deduction on it?) in exchange for marketing consulting for doing wild stuff like this. Since then the marketing arm of Nike has: - changed the uniforms twice in the past 6 years. This year they included a alternate road uniform. (how many football teams have that?) - gotten rid of the old cutesy Donald Duck knock-off mascot in favor of a gay, body-building duck mascot - now changed the band uniforms - they've also consulted on the new artificial turf that was installed in Auzten Stadium

East German deja vu all over again.

I've seen reports that one of them was Carl Lewis during the 1988 Olympics for which Ben Johnson was banished. For whatever reason, the USA sports media has been asleep for quite a while on this issue. I can remember hen a similar report came out before the Sydney Olympics when a member of the drug screening committee said the same thing. All I know is that everything in this sport is fishy. Marion Jones' husband getting banned before Sydney, yet she has the build of a Division I defensive back. As the Chinese long-distance runners who devastated world records a decade ago have shown, it's easier to mask HGH, steriods and other illegal performance enhancing drugs. It was widely speculated that the East German scientists who had supplemented the dominance of their women athletes had been hired by the Chinese after the fall of the Berlin wall. Mose importantly, this and previous events like the Chinese women has shown the politics behind the enforcement.

Kansas City 1-4 San Jose

Landon Donovan is good player, but he's not a pure scorer, and shouldn't be used as a striker when playing high caliber opposition. I think he waits too much for the high-percentage shot, rather than a try the unexpected shot that can surpise a defense and goalkeeper. (A prime example that Americans fans of the sport would remember is the goal Clint Mathis scored against Korea in the 2002 WCF) Donovan also at times chokes on some of the easier chances that he gets. Another example: the WCF 2002 versus Germany. If he's going to be considered the best in the USA and be a top-notch scorer, he's going to have to convert a few more of those crucial chances. He just doesn't seem to have that "killer instinct" against tough opposition. Unfortunately, a leaky KC Wizard defense with an overweight keeper doesn't qualify.

Argentine League Suspended

First, I think some of the nasty things that go on at some events here in the USA or afterwards, is greatly underreported. Somehow, the blurb about soccer fans in Peru gets in every sports section and gets made fun of on sportstalk radio, but the exploits of drunken Buckeye fans, or the nefarious parts of Raider Nation don't get a lot of press. It's complicated why such violence happens more often in other countries, some of which are mentioned above. But the most important thing is that most people elsewhere are steeped in tribalism of their locality, and the sporting clubs of that locality. We really don't get the same kind of thing here because people routinely move from place to place, for university or for the military.